By Sobhi Mugahed
CAIRO
Al-Azhar, the world's highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, has suspended a member of its Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs after he visited a Shiite seminary in Iran, according to a statement issued by the council.
Azhar scholar Ahmed Karima, who is still in Iran, was suspended from the council – led by Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb – for giving lectures at a Hawza (Shiite theological seminary) in Iran without the council's permission, according to a statement issued by council Secretary-General Ahmed Agiba.
Agiba said the Al-Azhar had since launched an investigation into the incident, the findings of which – along with al-Tayeb's recommendation – will determine whether Karima's membership status will be reinstated.
Karima, who has yet to respond to the move, could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this week, Al-Azhar denied Iranian media reports that it had sent any of its scholars to predominantly-Shiite Iran, after a photo was circulated on social media purporting to show Karima in the company of Shiite scholars inside a Shiite Hawza.
In a strongly-worded statement, Al-Azhar voiced its "deep dissatisfaction" with the reports, vowing to take legal action against Karima if it was proven that he said that he had been officially dispatched to Iran by Al-Azhar.
"Such a claim would be a stark infringement on Al-Azhar and a violation of its bylaws," read the Al-Azhar statement.
Al-Azhar accuses Iran of "spreading Shiite ideology in the Sunni-Muslim world."
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